Torres Strait residents want more information about cholera

Residents of the Torres Strait in far north Queensland are complaining of confusion about a cholera outbreak and a restriction of movement between Papua New Guinea (PNG).

At least 16 people have died in the outbreak on the PNG island of Daru.

Percy Misi from Yorke Island says there is a lack of information.

"There's no notification from the regional council, the Torres Strait Regional Council, and there's no notification from the Immigration Department, either on Thursday Island or Canberra, about what is happening in Daru Island, and it's a bit scary at the moment," she said.

"There's a lot of confusion, the local councillor is not here and there's no leadership."

James Cook University (JCU) professor Peter Leggat says an institute of tropical health should be established to research disease threats.

"A crucial element to all this will also be public health," he said.

"We know that public health, good public health, control a number of the diseases that we've been talking about - obviously particularly cholera in the outbreak in Daru, but also other diseases such as Japanese encephalitis, dengue and so on that have the potential to affect us here in northern Queensland."

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.